Historical Studies Of Writing Program Administration: Individuals, Communities, And The Formation Of A Discipline

Historical Studies of Writing Program Administration: Individuals, Communities, and the Formation of a Discipline collects essays that shine new light on the early history of writing program administration. Broad in scope, the book illuminates the development of the profession in the narratives of the individuals who helped form the discipline prior to the emergence of the Council of Writing Program Administrators in 1976, including those narratives of Gertrude Buck and Laura J. Wylie, Edwin Hopkins, Regina Crandall, Rose Colby, George Jardine, Clara Stevens, Stith Thompson, and George Wykoff. Drawing from deep archival work, these narratives offer rare glimpses into writing program administration and the development of composition as a college requirement. In addition to eleven chapters from contributors, Historical Studies of Writing Program Administration includes a preface by Edward M. White, a concluding essay by Jeanne Gunner, interviews with Erika Lindemann and Kenneth Bruffee, and a detailed introduction by the editors, Barbara L’Eplattenier and Lisa Mastrangelo.

"It is a marvelous, ground-breaking book . . . an important contribution to an important field. Everyone interested in composition and rhetoric will read and cite this book. It is quite alone in its focus on the pre-history of the WPA function."

— Edward M. White

Barbara L’Eplattenier is assistant professor in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas—Little Rock, where she teaches in the professional writing track. Her historical research focuses on the rhetoric of Progressive Era women. She has published in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication and The Writing Program Administrator as Researcher: Inquiry in Action and Reflection.

Lisa Mastrangelo is assistant professor of English and coordinator of Women’s Studies at the College of St. Elizabeth, where she teaches courses in composition, rhetoric, creative nonfiction, and playwriting. Her research interests include nineteenth-century writing instruction and administration at women’s colleges. Her work in this area has been published in Rhetoric Review.